Press

More than 9 GWe of new nuclear capacity came online in 2016, the largest annual increase for over 25 years and global nuclear generation rose for the fourth successive year. However, if nuclear is going to make a full contribution to future clean electricity supply, action is needed in three key areas: establishing a level playing field in electricity markets; building harmonized regulatory processes; and creating an effective safety paradigm.

These are the conclusions of the World Nuclear Performance Report 2017, which is published today.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has called for nuclear energy to receive “clear and consistent policy support for existing and new capacity, including clean energy incentive schemes for development of nuclear alongside other clean forms of energy.”

Barakah Unit 1, the first nuclear reactor in the United Arab Emirates, has completed initial construction activities. World Nuclear Association Director General Agneta Rising said; “The completion of initial construction of the first nuclear reactor at Barakah is a great achievement. I commend the efforts of all those involved in achieving this milestone.”

World Nuclear Association is pleased to announce new appointments to our board of management, George Borovas, Shearman & Sterling and Guillaume Dureau, AREVA. Furthermore, Kirill Komarov, ROSATOM has been elected to the position of Vice Chairman.

The UK must ensure that any actions taken regarding its membership of the Euratom treaty as part of the Brexit process includes a smooth transition for its current nuclear industry and allows the UK leadership as an international partner in new nuclear development to continue.

How we generate electricity, grow food, heat buildings, travel and manufacture goods are just some of the activities leading to the production of greenhouse gases. For that reason, if you think that we need to reduce emissions, then no one single change can be the total solution.

Reading the coverage of the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2014 you might come to the conclusion that renewables will flourish, nuclear's future is uncertain, oil supplies are a matter of concern and surprisingly little has been said about coal and gas.

World Nuclear News

The German cabinet has agreed to grant compensation of up to EUR1 billion (USD1.17 billion) to the utilities forced to shut down their nuclear power plants by the Energiewende, or energy transition, that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel introduced in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in Japan in March 2011. At that time, Germany was obtaining around a quarter of its electricity from 17 nuclear reactors operated by EOn, RWE and Vattenfall.

The USA, Canada and Japan today launched the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative partnership at a side event to the 9th Clean Energy Ministerial taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark. The aim is to bring a discussion on innovation and advanced nuclear energy systems to the international meeting.

Governor Phil Murphy has signed legislation to establish a Zero Emissions Certificate programme that will enable New Jersey's nuclear power plants to continue operating by recognising and compensating them for their carbon-free attributes. The bill was one of several legislative initiatives signed by Murphy yesterday to advance the state's clean energy economy.

Belarus and Kazakhstan yesterday signed a memorandum of cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the Belarusian Energy Ministry has announced. The document was signed by Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk and Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Bakytzhan Dzhaksaliev.

The dome has today been installed on the containment building of unit 3 at the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in western China. The unit is the first of two demonstration Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors being built at the site in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, about 45 kilometres from the border with Vietnam.

The UK's Nuclear Industry Association has welcomed confirmation of the government's intention to seek associate status to Euratom R&D programmes. NIA chief executive Tom Greatrex stressed however that this is just one part of the current Euratom framework, and progress in replicating other vital areas is still needed before the UK leaves the treaty, as part of its exit from the European Union, in March 2019.

The target of achieving global nuclear generating capacity of 438 GWe by 2020 under the International Energy Agency's (IEA's) Sustainable Development Scenario appears to be on track, the agency said today. However, it said the prospects of meeting the target of 490 GWe by 2025 remains uncertain.

The US Supreme Court is to consider whether federal law pre-empts Virginia's ban on uranium mining after finding in favour of a petition by Virginia Uranium, Inc against an earlier appeal court ruling. The court is expected to consider the question later this year.

Chugoku Electric Power Company has today requested permission from local governments to apply for pre-startup inspections of unit 3 at the Shimane nuclear power plant in Japan's Shimane prefecture. Construction of the 1373 MWe advanced boiling water reactor is nearing completion.

A ceremony has been held to welcome the Akademik Lomonosov, Russia's first floating nuclear power plant, following its arrival at Atomflot's berth in the port city of Murmansk in the far northwest part of the country. Fuel will be loaded in to the vessel's two reactors prior to its delivery to Russia's northernmost city of Pevek next year.

The European Commission and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran have confirmed their continuing commitment towards implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, following a visit by European commissioner for climate action and energy Miguel Arias Cañete to Tehran.

Dominion Energy is to provide funding that could lead to commercialising the BWRX-300 small modular reactor, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy announced today. The 300 MWe reactor is derived from GEH's 1520 MWe Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor design.

US utility Dominion Energy has awarded Framatome a contract to provide steam generator services for its fleet of six nuclear power reactors. The inspection and maintenance work - scheduled to take place during outage over the next two years - will partly be carried out using robots.

Innovation through collaboration was the key message of NNL SciTec 2018, the annual event hosted by the UK National Nuclear Laboratory and held this week in Liverpool, England. That message, delivered by NNL Chief Science and Technology Officer Andrew Sherry, reflected the challenges he says the industry faces.

Organisational and technical measures are needed to improve the safety of the Democratic Republic of Congo's research reactor, an International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has concluded. TRICO-II, at the Kinshasa Nuclear Research Centre (CREN-K), has not been in operation since 2003.

Canada-based L3 MAPPS has been awarded a contract to upgrade the full scope operator training simulator it supplied for unit 1 of Belgium's Tihange nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, USA-based GSE Systems has been contracted to upgrade and provide simulators to Chinese reactors.

The US Department of Energy has approved the start of construction of a new underground ventilation system at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The USD288 million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System is one of a number of infrastructure projects planned for the New Mexico facility.

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has written to Congress informing it that he has effectively ended the project to construct a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The facility, about 70% complete, was intended to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium by turning it into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has completed a three-year project to revamp its safeguards information technology system to be more effective in its work to ensure the peaceful uses of nuclear technology. IAEA safeguards are a set of technical measures to help prevent the non-peaceful use of nuclear material and technology.

Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, yesterday signed a series of agreements with overseas companies during the Atomexpo conference and exhibition being held this week in Sochi, Russia. The agreements, with Chile, China, Cuba, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain and Zambia, include the engineering and medical sectors, among others.

Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has signed or renewed cooperation agreements with counterparts from five countries: Belgium, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The organisation has previously signed such agreements with nuclear waste management organisations in Finland, South Korea and Japan.

A surge in new nuclear plants coming online is helping to build a sustainable global energy mix, reduce emissions and meet electricity demand, but more is needed, World Nuclear Association Director General Agneta Rising told the Atomexpo 2018 conference yesterday.

The High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands is now producing the medical radioisotope Xenon-133. The move follows the successful collaboration between nuclear medicine company Curium and the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group to develop and install a production process for the isotope.

A team of International Atomic Energy Agency experts has completed a Pre-SALTO (Safety Aspects of Long Term Operation) review at Brazil's Angra 1 nuclear power plant. Plant operator Eletrobras Eletronuclear is preparing to apply to extend the pressurised water reactor's operating lifetime from 40 to 60 years.

Unit 4 of the Ohi nuclear power plant in Japan's Fukui Prefecture began supplying electricity to the grid again on 11 May, Kansai Electric Power Company has announced. The reactor is expected to re-enter commercial operation early next month.

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy has been signed between China National Nuclear Corporation and the Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. The parties will give priority to cooperation in applying nuclear technology in medicine, agriculture and industry.

The US House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill that would expedite licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository and provide for centralised interim storage of the country's used nuclear fuel. HR 3053 - the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2018 - was passed by 340 votes to 72.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation has laid its latest Corporate Plan before Parliament in which it lists its ten priorities for 2018-2019. These include developing a new regime to meet safeguarding obligations following Parliament's decision to exit Euratom, along with measures to support the implementation of new emergency planning arrangements as a result of the Basic Standards Directive.

The US Nuclear Energy Institute has called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to move quickly to define, foster and retain resiliency on the country's electricity grid before further nuclear generating capacity is lost through premature plant retirements. Meanwhile, the independent, non-partisan Center for Climate and Energy Solutions has issued a new report outlining how US policymakers can preserve the emission benefits of nuclear energy.

The UK government has launched an open consultation on the future regulation of nuclear sites in the final stages of decommissioning and clean-up. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the consultation seeks to enable a "more flexible approach that can optimise waste management, thereby realising environmental benefits and reducing costs".

The European Commission has launched an investigation into whether public support received by Romania's National Uranium Company is in line with European Union state aid rules. Romania notified the Commission in June last year of a restructuring plan for the company, which has been in financial difficulty since the loss of its main customer, nuclear utility Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica SA.

As long as Iran continues to implement its nuclear related commitments, as it is doing so far, the European Union will remain committed to the continued full and effective implementation of the nuclear deal, the EU's High Representative and Vice-President Federica Mogherini said yesterday. "We fully trust the work, competence and autonomy of the International Atomic Energy Agency that has published ten reports certifying that Iran has fully complied with its commitments," she said.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has completed a multi-year series of major construction works to protect the Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants from the most extreme of weather events. The final project, a new seven-foot (2.1 metre) high concrete flood wall at Fort Loudoun Dam, would hold back the waters of the Tennessee River in the event of an extreme flood.

Azarga Uranium Corp and URZ Energy Corp have announced they are to merge to form a new US-focused in-situ leach (ISL) uranium development company. The merger will allow the companies, which are both based in Vancouver, Canada, to consolidate their US uranium assets which together include measured and indicated resources of 30.7 million pounds U3O8 (11,809 tU) plus additional inferred resources of 8.7 million pounds U3O8.

BWX Technologies Inc has developed an innovative process developed to manufacture molybdenum-99 which it says is a breakthrough for medical radioisotope manufacturing technology. The company plans to introduce the technology by the end of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals.

By combining flexible nuclear power plant operation with the use of variable renewable energy sources, Europe will be able to ensure security of energy supply while reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, according to the European nuclear trade body Foratom. However, it calls for an EU energy policy that creates the right market and regulatory conditions for this to happen.

The CAREM Project has reached a new milestone in the development of the 12 steam generators for the prototype CAREM-25 in Argentina. More than 700 tubes, each 35 meters long, have been delivered to the site, Combustibles Nucleares Argentinos, announced on 4 May.

The containment dome of unit 6 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province was installed on 5 May, marking the reactor's entry into the equipment installation phase of construction, China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation announced today. CNECC is a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation.